Day #137 - Glascow & The Lake District

Great running trail

Awesome lake views

More running trails

The ferry boat approaching the bank

Sailboats all over the lakes

Thursday, July 29th

This morning I got an early start and walked around the city of Glascow. Along with Edinburgh, it's the biggest city in Scotland. Interesting place. Alot of activity on the streets. I got the feel that Glascow is to Cambridge as Edinburgh is to Oxford. It just had that same feel. Newer, art museums, the swanky place to be. I might be off on this -- just what I took from my walk about. I like Edinburgh better.

One of the interesting things about Glascow - it's the home of the Macintosh Trail. The city's greatest architect-designer, Charles Rennie MacIntosh (1868-1928), earned Glascow its reputation as a hub of creativity. One of his creations - The Glascow School of Art. When completed in 1899, it was heralded as Europe's finest example of Moderism. Along with the school, there are also restaurants and teerooms spread around town with his design and archtecture.

After spending a few hours in Glascow, I decided to take a train south out of Scotland and back into northern England. I'll remember my time in Scotland fondly. I'm a little disappointed to be leaving. Even though I did alot of stuff here (golfing at 2 big time courses, British Open at St. Andrews, Loch Ness, Edinburgh & Glascow, the Hebrides, the Highland Games, whiskey trail, castle trail, and the Isle of Skye), I still feel like I'd like to come back sometime. It's a neat place to visit.

I took a 2 hour train to the city of Windermere. Many of my buddies who have spent time in the central UK with Caterpillar told me about this area called 'The Lake District' - a must see. This is an 880 square mile section of northern England (north of Manchester) known for its amazing lakes and natural beauty. It's renowned for the incredible hiking trails scattered throughout the endless lakes. It's said to have more than 1,800 miles of footpaths and trails. Because I'm a big fan of hiking - this was an area I couldn't miss.

There are a number of different small towns in the Lake District, but I chose Windermere because it was easily accessible by train for me. I got to the town about 3:30pm. I really wanted to go for a long run/walk today. I went directly to the tourist center. This was one of the best I've been to. They called and got me a hotel, and pointed me in the direction of a great 4-1/2 mile long path along the lakefront.

I dumped my bags off at the hotel and headed out. I had to run/walk about 2-3 miles to get down to the lake. I then took a ferry boat across to the trailhead. I ran the 4-1/2 miles to the end of the trail. It was spectacular. Boats, blue skies, clouds, wooded forests - perfect. At the end of the trail was a castle -- they're everywhere. I turned around and did a walk/run back to the start. I really felt good today. I haven't been running much - as I'm giving my body a rest. I needed to make sure I still had it in me today. All good. A good half marathon+ after counting the miles to/from the ferry boat. On the way out, I caught up with this biker, he was going really slow and had his radio playing loudly. The song being played was by the Boss (Bruce Springstein) - "I'm on Fire" --- 'Woo -o-o-I'm on fire'. It got me gong a little bit and brought me through a couple miles.

I got back, cleaned up and went out to a nice dinner. I really never do this. I went to a sit down place and had an awesome baked lasagna, a nice big caesar salad, and an ice-cold corona. I still will never get used to eating alone in a place like this. It's a bit ackward. I'd rather just grab something and bring it back to my room. It was all good though. A very good day in the land of lakes.